Super God Grandmaster
Chapter 1317 - 1317 1303 Conflict

Chapter 1317: Chapter 1303: Conflict Chapter 1317: Chapter 1303: Conflict It was apparent that Ye Chen was wracking his brain; he completely understood Ye Chen’s feelings, having searched all day without much rest.

“You should rest properly, I’ll instruct them to hurry and pay attention to the strangers who’ve just arrived on the island.”

“Right, the strangers, besides that girl’s peculiarity, those people are also new arrivals here, grasp this lead to inquire.” Ye Chen stood up.

Red Demonic Spirit asked, “Where are you going now?”

“I’m heading to the seaside to take a look, and also to ask around.”

“I’ll accompany you.”

“No need, maybe they’ve found him, you’re responsible here.” Ye Chen walked towards the exit.

Red Demonic Spirit directed two subordinates to follow him.

“Send me a signal if anything happens,” Ye Chen called out.

“Alright.”

Arriving at the dock, it was quiet as if asleep.

Ye Chen swept his gaze around, surprised to find quite a number of ships, with thirty or forty large vessels docked at the shore, now somewhat icy cold.

Those people must have come aboard one of the big ships, Ye Chen thought.

If they weren’t from this island, then which island were they from?

Looking at the dozens of ships, he felt powerless, a sensation he had never experienced before. Could Yun’er be locked up on one of these ships?

A subordinate from behind asked, “Shall we board and search every ship one by one?”

Another subordinate shook his head and said, “That certainly won’t work. With so many vessels, over a hundred, we don’t have enough hands—the majority are searching in the town center. Now we’re even more stretched thin. You couldn’t finish searching by tomorrow morning. Furthermore, causing such a commotion in searching other people’s ships, would they be okay with it? With such a stir-up, I suspect it will provoke some people and might anger them. With an inspection that barely covers a few ships and our current lack of manpower, what if they transfer the person to the other side while you inspect here?”

The first subordinate retorted, “So we just do nothing?”

Another replied, “We must act, but we also have to consider our capabilities, especially knowing we only have a few hundred people, we can’t act recklessly. I estimate we’ve already exposed ourselves, and the relations between the Thirty-Six Islands and the One Hundred and Eight Islands have never been good, I fear it might lead to even more trouble.”

“What are we afraid of trouble for now?”

However, that subordinate’s words served as a reminder to Ye Chen, who said, “You two, go to the docks and ask around, find those dock masters, and look for ships that moored the day before and didn’t leave yesterday.” He had to narrow down the search. With over a hundred ships, and it not being the territory of the Thirty-Six Islands, a lawless search was certainly not feasible.

The two subordinates withdrew.

Could Yun’er really be on one of these ships? Ye Chen walked along the dock, hoping to detect any anomaly on a vessel.

With the night dark and the wind high, almost everyone had gone to bed; it was practically impossible to spot anything out of the ordinary. Each ship searched was the same, none of them were marked with “I am the suspicious one.”

Only a few on the night watch, or those truly driven by silver, unwilling to waste time and hurrying for the next day’s work, continued to bustle.

Clueless, Ye Chen returned to his own ship.

However, most people on the ship had been dispatched, leaving only twenty or thirty on board.

The men with no tasks at hand seized the opportunity to sleep, and four were sitting by the fire, on the night watch. Ye Chen approached, and a subordinate recognized him from afar and promptly stood up to greet him.

Ye Chen walked over, greeted them, sat down beside them, and said, “Got any alcohol? Pour me a drink.”

A vigilant subordinate was on alert, as those on night watch were not allowed to drink indiscriminately.

Ye Chen chuckled and said, “I just want a sip, you won’t be blamed.”

The wary subordinate then passed him the flask.

It had been an entire day, spent in extreme tension, starting from yesterday morning with the quarrel with Guo Yuyun, when Ye Chen began to feel uneasy. By noon, upon discovering Yun’er’s disappearance, he grew anxious, increasingly so, until at night he found signs of a struggle in the room. After some questioning, it was confirmed Yun’er had been kidnapped.

But now he had no idea who had taken her, whether she’d been moved off the island or not. If she hadn’t been, then come sunrise, she might be taken away, which was indeed troublesome.

Drinking made his headache less severe and gave him a moment of relief. Ye Chen took several swigs and then said, “Carry on chatting, don’t mind me.”

Where else could they be? Unfortunately, there was a serious lack of manpower. If Ouyang Yue and her group hadn’t left yet, he might have been able to organize a crew to search the ships, but with the current shortage, it was an achievement to search the inn thoroughly, let alone anything else.

It must be the fourth watch by now, the sky is already showing the first light of dawn, that girl mustn’t get into any trouble, otherwise, how could I face her sister? Such an imprudent girl.

After a few sips of wine, perhaps too exhausted and sleepy, a moment’s doze, and he fell asleep.

Just as he dozed off, there came shouts from afar that startled Ye Chen awake, his nerves on edge as he sprang up, thinking that the Black Demonic Spirit and his gang had found Guo Yuyun. Opening his eyes, he realized it was already light, the eastern sky was streaked with the pale light of dawn, and some people were beginning their day’s bustle.

He must have slept for about two hours, his head no longer felt as if it was splitting open as it had before.

The one who came running was one of his men who blurted out immediately, “Boss, it’s not good, they’ve started fighting.”

Ye Chen became suddenly tense, leapt off the boat, and asked, “What happened?”

The messenger said, “Didn’t Boss order Red Demonic Spirit to look for the human traffickers? He did find two suspects, but during the attempt to capture them, the table was turned, and Red Demonic Spirit and the kidnappers are about to start fighting.”

“Fighting with the human traffickers?”

“Not the traffickers, someone on the island, probably an island authority. He’s got a whole gang surrounding Red Demonic Spirit.”

“Didn’t I tell Red Demonic Spirit not to be so impulsive?”

Old Red was also rather calm, he shouldn’t be so rash.

“What’s the name of this island authority?” Ye Chen inquired.

“Fu Hongzhang.”

Ye Chen asked, “Does anyone know who this person is?”

“A wealthy merchant, one of the three most powerful people on Lotus Leaf Island,” another subordinate added.

Ye Chen further questioned him about what the man did, and so on.

Just then, roaring voices were heard, and a man shouted, “Where did you all come from? What gives you the right to capture people on Lotus Leaf Island?”

It turned out that last night, Fu Hongzhang had already heard about a group of unknown strangers searching for someone, inn by inn. He had received reports from his subordinates but hadn’t taken it seriously. However, this morning the news came out they had captured people.

On Lotus Leaf Island, it wasn’t outsiders who have the final say. Daring to capture people on Lotus Leaf Island without their permission was unacceptable and disrespectful. Understandably, it infuriated him. On this island, his word had some weight, and if he didn’t stand up to such an incident, it would be an unacceptable loss of face. Lotus Leaf Island wasn’t a place controlled by outsiders.

“We’re just trying to get a clear picture, we’ll release them once we understand the situation,” said Red Demonic Spirit, maintaining a measure of calm, aware that being on someone else’s territory, it would be better to stay composed.

“Get a clear picture? You dare to capture people all over Lotus Leaf Island and you still take us into consideration? What gives you the right to capture them?”

Obviously, two people had already been captured by Red Demonic Spirit, standing right behind him, held captive. Red Demonic Spirit explained, “We lost a girl, suspecting it was the doing of human traffickers. These two used to be traffickers too, we just want to understand the situation clearly.”

“Those people have long been reformed. What right do you have to capture them? Release them immediately and get off Lotus Leaf Island,” the man’s temper clearly wasn’t very good.

One of Ye Chen’s subordinates pointed at the commanding middle-aged man next to the man and said, “That’s Fu Hongzhang.”

One of the three wealthiest people on Lotus Leaf Island, indeed different.

Fu Hongzhang glanced at Red Demonic Spirit and demanded, “Are you their leader?” He seemed rather calm, unlike his more impulsive subordinates.

His subordinates were upset since last night after hearing that a group had been searching all over for someone, and today’s news of the capture deepened their displeasure.

Ye Chen quickly stepped forward and said, “I am their leader.”

Fu Hongzhang first scrutinized Ye Chen, seemingly needing only a moment to assess whether he was someone capable of significant deeds. Having done business in these seas for many years, he understood that there were levels to every situation and maintaining a low profile was always necessary. He said, “You can’t just capture people on Lotus Leaf Island randomly, that’s lawlessness. Through my subordinates, I’ve learned about you, although I don’t know where you’ve come from, but I know you have about five or six hundred people, and moreover, two ships of your people left yesterday.”

Ye Chen also responded humbly, apologizing hastily, “I’m sorry, Elder Fu. They were in a hurry to find the missing person, fearing that it would be too late to act later, so they resorted to desperate measures. We’ll release them immediately once we confirm they are unrelated.”

The young man was still somewhat polite. Fu Hongzhang asked, “A girl of yours has gone missing, hasn’t she?”

It seemed he must have heard something; it wasn’t surprising, being one of the three great merchants of Lotus Leaf Island, one would expect him to have reliable intelligence.

Ye Chen hastened to explain, “Yes, she disappeared yesterday at noon while in the inn.”

“How can you be sure it might be the work of human traffickers?”

“I heard that there have been incidents on this island of human traffickers abducting young girls. In the missing girl’s room, we found signs of a struggle and a smashed vase. We have also determined that it should be a girl leading a group of martial arts-skilled subordinates who did this.”